


Six Minutes

by amoderatelycreativehumanbeing



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Fluff and Angst, Grief/Mourning, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-02
Updated: 2020-09-02
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:13:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26257708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amoderatelycreativehumanbeing/pseuds/amoderatelycreativehumanbeing
Summary: um, so this is the first fic I've like posted on archive so that's fun. um I'm very nervous but. It's basically one of Harry's fondest memories of Cedric Diggory before he died and his kind of finding traces later on and properly grieving over that(because I do think that he didn't get to really process everything).so have fun crying I hope you enjoy :) (also sorry its a bit short)
Relationships: Cedric Diggory/Harry Potter
Comments: 8
Kudos: 37





	Six Minutes

“you okay?” Harry heard Cedric ask from his book on dragons. He didn’t want to cause trouble for Diggory, him hanging out with him was already slashing on his reputation. Cedric seemed happy to be in Harry’s company though, he just wished he didn’t feel so bad about it. “I'm okay,” he reassured, shaking his head rendering the thing on his mind unimportant. 

They were studying dragons for the first task in the library. The two decided to form an alliance and split the money if they won after the press conference a couple of weeks back. Though Cedric’s new friendship didn’t lull the sting of his and Ron’s falling apart. He didn’t know what to do and for some strange reason, there was an urge not to do anything at all. These late-night library sessions did help in a way, escaping into the excitement of what’s to come. 

Harry also found Cedric to be amusing, shooting him funny faces every now and then from the large dusty books he’d skim. When an alcove was open he’d hop into it before making room for his partner. He would look out the window dreamily at times and name the constellations he’d see rambling on and on about how absolutely beautiful the moon is tonight. If you asked politely he’d read you a story, read every word so naturally, it was almost like he wasn’t reading at all. Cedric’s company was always warm and inviting, he was soothing in such a boyish way. He was so alive, in every possible way.

“you sure?” he asked, giving Harry his full attention. He just shrugged “I’d rather not talk about it.” Cedric nodded, he understood and wasn’t going to push Harry to do anything he didn’t want to do.

“can I do anything?” He asked he rendered that question ridiculous, questioning if Cedric knew exactly how much just spending this time with him was helping. “you’re doing enough right now.” Harry simply said Ced’s eyebrows knitted slightly at that. Thinking what he’d said to be offly cryptid. 

“I got it!...” He exclaimed, getting up and wandering about the almost empty library after a tense moment. He stopped at a phonograph down the hall. Harry never noticed it, he watched Cedric skim the many milk cartons of records before he found one that caught his attention. He watched him carefully place the record onto the base of the graph smiling wide when the song started to play. Harry didn’t know at the time but the song was Elton John’s Tiny Dancer.

Cedric was suddenly grabbing at his hands to lift Harry off his chair. “Come on Potter, dance it out.” He rolled his eyes while Ced pulled him all the way up, Harry watched him sway while he gleefully and very incorrectly played the air piano. Harry remembered wishing for the song to never end.

He found himself grinning while he followed Cedric who was a bright contrast to the greys he’d been seeing so much of lately. They danced until the song ended. When it did, they got back to work, scribbling notes on parchment and discussing what they’d read. The two had pretty much known all there is to know about the dragons raised in Romania, they just needed to finish their research on the Hungarian Horntail and Sweedish Short-Snout. 

Midnight crept right around the corner, The librarian rushing them to get out of her library saying something about how it was already past curfew. So they packed their books walking out, Cedric wishing the librarian a goodnight. He was always so polite to her, even though she was a bitter hag of a woman who never said anything back to him. 

They walked each other to their houses each night, tonight was Harry’s turn. While they shuffled down the stairs to the Hufflepuff basement there was a comfortable silence that flowed through them. Harry was content with this, staring at the hundreds of portraits hung on the wall until right before they arrived at the barrel Cedric sighed. 

“It's kind of funny what six minutes with the right person can do to your day huh?” Harry smiled at that, he was right. “thank you.” he said before Ced entered the common room. He just smiled at him, “anytime. just tell me and we can play that song once or a hundred times until you feel better.” It was such a simple kind of sentence but it stitched itself into Harry’s mind repeating itself over and over. Especially in the last part. He nodded at Cedric who had just left. An idea that maybe he’d had a stressful day too and that maybe his company soothed Cedric just like the ladder did for him consuming Harry’s thoughts. 

Walking up to the Gryffindor tower, he couldn’t help humming that same song. A little more “pep” to his step than before.

It’d been years since Harry had last sat in that same chair at that same desk at about the same time in the same library. It’d been years since he even spoke the name “Cedric Diggory”, the thought of the boy still earning a bittersweet burn at the base of his chest. Harry never knew what to do when Cedric’s ghost would creep up behind him, he never had the time to grieve or process everything that happened that year. It all seemed to fall away, a sort of sick fever dream taunting him for the rest of his life.

He’d been working as the Hogwarts DADA professor for a couple of years now, only now did he need to do research for a lesson plan in the library. That research being dragons, they'd only recently transferred that topic from Care of Magical Creatures to Defense Against The Dark Arts so he didn't have any books on them in his study. This wasn’t the biggest issue Hogwarts needed to fix, but at least they were doing something to improve the education process. 

Harry found himself thinking about Cedric a lot lately, “probably all the memories coming back mate.” His life-long friend Ron Weasley would reassure him. It made sense and, honestly was good for him, but it never sat right with Harry. He almost felt taunted by the thoughts of the deceased boy, just yesterday would’ve been his twenty-first birthday. 

He could see it. A bar full of people celebrating his living so long, or maybe not. Maybe a casual get together with a few friends, laughing and reminiscing on dreams come true or memories stretching further than seventeen. Getting a little too tipsy off beet wine and fire whiskey, the grey in Cedric’s eyes shining in that same adolescent way they used to. Harry could see him and his friends staying at that bar until they got kicked out, feeling young and dumb, too alive to care. He could see himself helping Cedric walk back home, helping him get situated to go to sleep, staying the night to make sure he didn't do anything stupid and eventually nursing his hangover in the morning. 

Harry was painfully brought back to this reality remembering he had work to do. He flipped to a random page in this strangely familiar book to find something tucked into the spine. A piece of parchment. He opened it to find an unfinished letter or note? Harry couldn't really tell, he instantly recognized the handwriting though. That couldn't be. 

“No….’ he whispered under his breath, voice weak. Harry always thought that his crush on Cedric was a one-way thing, he never thought for a second that Diggory would be tempted to write such childishly in love things about him on a piece of paper. Harry was feeling a myriad of emotions, a sort of second-hand embarrassment, a bittersweet relief, and heart-shattering grief. So this is how he felt. He thought to himself feeling the urge to travel back in time, to relive those magical six minutes. 

Just six more minutes.

**Author's Note:**

> If you're here that means you've read this fic?one-shot? idk you decide.
> 
> um thank you so much for reading it, I hope it was everything you hoped and more. :))


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